Page 48 of Alpha’s Wife

“I love you.” My voice cracks as I hold her, trying to get her to focus her eyes on me. “Do you hear me? I love you. I’ve loved you ever since I laid eyes on you, but I was too much of a coward to admit it, and now…” I can’t say it; I glance around frantically, looking for Emma or Dax, but I’m unsure if they made it over on the boats before the attack began. “Please. Somebody help her. I’ll leave the island. I’ll give you anything you want, all of it. Just help her. Please don’t let her go.”

“Move.” Emily is already there, dropping to her knees across from me, shoving my bloody hands off the wound. “Let me in. Move your hands. Let me work, now.”

Behind her, the other mates push forward, Ava and Serena, and they walk straight out into the open ground between the two packs, putting themselves between every wolf on the clifftop. Two other witches join Emily, and everyone seems to hold their breath. Not one shifter on either side moves.

Emily’s hands press flat over the wound, and the witches chant. Her magic pours out of her, and I watch the light as Selene’s torn flesh begins to slowly close, the bleeding stopping. But it’s too slow; it’s not like when a shifter heals by shifting. I don’t know if it’s going to be enough.

“Come on,” she mutters, and she’s talking to Selene, not to me. “Come on. You didn’t do all this for nothing. Don’t you dare.”

Selene doesn’t move. Her chest barely lifts, and my legs go out from under me. Ryder’s there, and he catches me before I hit the ground, taking my weight. I turn to him, feeling something shatter inside me.

“You were right,” I tell him. “About all of it. None of this matters. The island, Ralph, all the revenge.” My voice is gone. “Just you. And her. And our people. That’s all that ever mattered. And I destroyed all of it over people who didn’t even care about us.”

“Don’t do this,” Ryder says, and I notice his voice isn’t steady either. “I’ve got you. She’s not gone. Just breathe.”

His voice is choked, and I can feel him being strong for both of us. I’ve never asked him to do that, not once. He was so shattered by our mother’s death, by the things we endured just to survive, that I promised him I’d make things right. Maybe I’m the one who didn’t let his alpha grow strong enough, or perhaps Ryder didn’t want it. But right now, he’s the stronger one; I can feel his wolf giving mine everything he’s got. And for once, I let him.

So I hold my brother, and I watch the woman I don’t deserve fight to stay alive, and I pray to a goddess I stopped really believing in long ago.

Emily doesn’t stop; she is still working with the two witches flanking her, sweat covering her face, her arms shaking with the effort. Every few seconds, she says Selene’s name, sharp, like she can drag her back by force. I feel the bond magic between us faltering, and I reach out, taking one of her cold hands in mine, and I try to push the magic back into her, desperate to give her every ounce of my wolf’s strength along with Emily’s magic. I need her to know how much I love her, and I push it all in a silent prayer.

The entire settlement has gone completely silent. Hundreds of shifters who were ready to tear each other apart only minutes ago are all just standing still, watching one woman fight for her life as though none of it mattered. Because it didn’t. Nobody fights. Nobody moves. And it’s Selene that did that.

She stopped the war after all.

I feel it before I see it, the bond intensifying again, and then I look up and see Selene’s chest rising and falling, as though she’s coming up from underwater. Her eyes open, and she’s looking everywhere frantically until she sees me and calms.

“Ronan.” Barely a breath. “You’re alive?”

“I’m alive?” I choke out as I lean down and kiss her forehead, incredulous that she’s still more concerned about me. “I’m here, just don’t move. You’re going to be okay.”

“I love you, Ronan,” she says, even though every word clearly costs her as she winces. “I didn’t betray you, I just wanted to stop you getting hurt. Stop your people getting hurt.”

“I love you, too,” I say, trying to hold back tears as I take in her healing injuries again. “You were right about it all. I love you, not the magic or the bond, just you. And I was a fool not to tell you before. I pushed you away because I didn’t want to admit the truth.”

The tears spill over, running into her hair. “I love you, too,” she whispers. “I have for so long, but I thought I was just a strategy. I thought I was an idiot for loving you when you’d made it clear it was all about the bond magic and the war. I didn’t want to tell you.”

“I know what I said. I was wrong,” I tell her. “You’re the one who showed me how wrong I was about all this. You’re my future, not chasing revenge.”

“You had to kidnap me to figure that out,” she says, and there’s the teasing ghost of a smile, even now.

“I did.” I press my forehead down against hers. “And I’m sorry for all of it. And how I acted today. I was so scared of being left again that I nearly threw away the one person in the world who accepted me despite who I am. I’m sorry, Selene. For all of it.”

“I’m sorry, too. I did go behind your back,” she says, then smiles weakly. “You’ve told all these people that you love me; the whole pack will have felt it through the bond magic. Who knew you had it in you.”

“I don’t care,” I say, and I mean it. “Let every last one of them know.”

For a moment, I just hold her hand and let myself believe it. That she’s here. That she’s breathing. That the color coming back into her face is real, and not something I’m just inventing because I need it so badly. I look to Emily, and she nods.

“It’s okay,” she says, clearly exhausted. “We just need to get a medic up here. Those wounds are closing, but she’s not a shifter; we need different care.”

“Ours is closer,” Tristen says, stepping forward, and I turn and nod. Never did I think I’d let the enemy treat one of my own, let alone Selene, but it turns out they were never as much the enemy as my own mind.

I let the medic work, and Ryder runs down to prepare the clinic for her arrival. As color returns to her cheeks, my wolf calms slightly, enough that I become increasingly aware that the war has paused around me, but the wolves are still there, ready to go if I tell them to. Through the pack bond, I tell them all to stand down. I tell them I want peace. And the immediate relief I feel reflected back from my pack tells me everything I need to know.

I turn and find Callum and the others waiting at a respectful distance. He steps forward, and I see him watching Selene with genuine concern. “I know what it’s like to nearly lose my mate,” he tells me. “I would have offered to give up everything, too. But we’re not going to hold you to it. You’ve built something real here, right under our noses, and it’s not all about the war. I see a school building and an industry. We want you to finish what you started. This island is big enough for four packs, and we want to know our brothers.”

I stare at him. A month ago, I’d have gone for his throat for that suggestion. But now, I look down at Selene, her hand in mine, and I look down toward the docks, seeing my people hugging each other and standing in the beginnings of a beautiful settlement, and I nod.